Every year, the International Community School (ICS) has a carnival to raise money for the school. There are always lots of games and prizes. The most popular game is always the dunk tank. As usual, Danny took his turn awaiting a wet morning. It wasn't long until he went in! Aaron even took a turn trying to dunk Daddy. He missed but there were many others who hit the target!

Aaron attempts to Dunk Daddy!

In he goes!!

Mrs. Kennedy is Aaron's teacher this year. He tried his hand at knocking her in, but she stayed dry. So, we waited around until someone finally dunked her as well!

A Day With Friends

We recently got to visit with some good friends who live in Indonesia. They came over to Singapore, so we spent the day together a couple weeks ago. It was a public holiday, so we searched for something that was inexpensive but that would not be filled with fellow citizens. We met at the Asian Civilizations Museum. It was calm and cool, being air-conditioned. And not very crowded. It was the perfect place for our families. Aaron and Jonathan discovered all kinds of new talents in the children's areas. Here they learn about Chinese culture and eating with chopsticks. The goal was to pick up fishball sized round, slippery stones with the chopsticks as quick as they could. But we all know that fingers work much better! Next we traveled to the Middle East and learned about nomads living in tents. Aaron liked the hat and pillow!!

Boys playing in China

Our Little Nomad

Betsy's Trip to Vietnam

Last May, Betsy got a chance to visit Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam (formerly Saigon). She went with the orchestra from the International Baptist Church (IBC). It was an opportunity to minister to churches with music. We were so pleased to be a blessing. However, we were also blessed by the many people we met during our 4 day visit.

Our hosts took us to a unique quilting store where local women sell their hand-made items to support their families. It is a great help to many people. I saw this pattern and thought Mamma Whittaker would enjoy this Asian flair to a beautiful quilt. Unfortunately, I could not get the quilt as well.

Street Vendors Bring in Their Food to Sell

I was impressed with the mix of old and new architecture all over the city. Some of the buildings were so narrow, yet so tall!!

New Construction and a Coming Storm

The most common mode of travel other than your own feet.

The Saigon River

Home Sweet Home

Here are just a few pictures from the construction site next door. It is the rainy season now, and you can see for yourself just what it does!

When new housing is slated to go up, the first thing that happens is a building is constructed that gives an example of what each unit will look like, called a Show Flat. It happens that the show flats for the new site next door opened on a public holiday last week. This is from our window on opening day. You might just be able to see the small, dark forms hugging the shelter in the distance. That is the queue (British for line) of people there to get a glimpse of the show flats opening day. It started outside, but once the deluge commenced, there was a press to the scanty overhang on the only building in the area. That parking lot is the result of all the construction we posted previously. In spite of the downpour, the weather, as always, remained quite warm. In fact, the best way to dry off quickly once the rain lets up is to just let your feet get wet. Most people stay in sandals or flip flops even in the most severe weather. So the next picture will show you the best defense for the parking attendants on opening day.

Flip Flops and a Raincoat

In between rainstorms, we have some beautiful weather! Perfect for getting the laundry dry.